Thread

Installation in Casimir Lewy Library, Faculty of Philosophy, Cambridge University for Art Language Location 2015.

15th October – 1st November 2015

For this installation, Spendlove hand-stitched an excerpt from Aristotle’s ‘Metaphysics’ into canvas and hung it in the window of the Casimir Lewy Library. The legible side of the text faces inwards, legible only to visitors to the library.

The text questions the search for knowledge and Truth on the legible side of the stitched canvas. Meanwhile, the stitching on the underside reveals an alternative paragraph of abstract hieroglyphs, the energy of their marks bound in a chaotic pattern. The starting point of each letter is determined by the end point of the last, and interrupted randomly by knots in the lengths of threads.

Thread explores the form and shape of language and the construction of knowledge and meaning. The statement from Aristotle appeals to the artist as it does not offer an end-point or answer, instead it values the journey of learning. This idea is reflected in the exposure of the process of the creation of the stitched text.